Neck Fracture Recovery Story at YAPCHANKOR

Life can deal us a very unlucky hand sometimes. This patient, a successful businessman, was exercising when he fell backwards and hit his neck, fracturing several cervical vertebrae. He was taken immediately to the hospital for an emergency surgery where the orthopaedic surgeons put metal plates to hold the broken bones together.

Unfortunately, the accident left him severely impaired. He could not move his arms and hands normally, and walking required assistance from other people. His doctors recommended physiotherapy and rehab, which he diligently did at the hospital for 1 year. But results were not improving and he was starting to get discouraged.

One of the patients who was with him at the hospital one day suggested he come to see us. That patient had a successful treatment at Yap Chan Kor for his back injury. The neck fracture patient agreed and these videos document his initial range of motion.

This was one of the most chronic and severe cases we have ever undertaken. Over our 40 years, we sometimes get neurological patients and when the cause is a physical trauma, we believe we can help those cases. Even a small improvement in the 20-30% range can be bring a significant improvement to the patient’s quality of life. We recommended at least a 3 week (21 session) recovery program, with our proprietary medicine patches and physiotherapy for this patient.

Remarkably, the recovery achieved was much more than 30%. As these videos show, the patient regained significant movement in his arms and hands. The increase in control and speed in movements are apparent. While he could only walk with someone supporting him on the first day, by the 10th session, he was more in control and we could observe his improvement growing with each session. Quality of life issues such as wearing his clothes without help were now possible, and by the end of the treatment, the patient was regaining both muscle strength, movement range and walking independence.

If measured on range of motion degrees, we achieved a 70-80% improvement for this patient in just 3 weeks of sessions. This was more incredible because he had already been doing 1 year of regular physiotherapy sessions without any real progress. The stiffness, pain and back problems that came from the fracture in his neck, which affected the spinal cord, were gradually improving.

Overall, the patient was very happy with the progress. With these cases, achieving 70-80% improvement will dramatically improve the patient’s quality of life. Not only for him, but for his family members, who were very happy that he could now walk on his own and also perform the little chores in life that we all take for granted, such as wearing clothes ourselves.